Teaching English Abroad: My Journey and How You Can Do It Too

Teaching English in Thailand has been one of the most enriching and life-changing adventures I have ever taken on.  I often think back to when I was deciding whether I wanted to do this.  I read a crucial sentence that prompted me to go for it: "If you are even thinking about teaching English abroad, do it."  I did, and it was one of the best decisions of my life.  In this post, I will share more about my journey teaching English as a foreign language, as well as advice for how you can do it, too!

How It Started

I first had the idea that I might like to move to Thailand to teach English in the spring of my senior year of university.  I knew I wanted to travel to Southeast Asia after graduation, and I also knew I wanted to try teaching.  It is much easier to find work as a teacher in America if you have some classroom experience, so it made sense to begin my teaching journey elsewhere.  I was also excited about the idea of earning money while travelling... especially after I calculated the cost of the SE Asia trip I wanted to take and saw how much it would deplete my savings from my six years of working part-time jobs while in school.  So, I began research on what it would take to be qualified to teach English abroad.

Getting Qualified

The general requirements for getting hired as an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher are as follows:

✓ Native English Speaker - from USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Ireland, or South Africa

✓ Bachelor's Degree in any subject

✓ TEFL/TESOL or CELTA Certificate - I got a TEFL, which stands for "Teaching English as a Foreign Language."  You need a 120-hour course to be hired through my TEFL school.

✓ 100% clean criminal background check - there may be leeway here in some countries, but I know that Thailand, South Korea, China, Vietnam, Taiwan, and the Middle East require this.

At the time, I was wrapping up my bachelor's degree in psychology, with only a couple of months to go.  I decided to enroll in an online TEFL school called myTEFL.

Fun hint: they usually have a code available on the home page of their website for 30% off your course.  The 120 hour course is currently listed at $299 USD, so with the code it is only $209.30.  This is by far the least expensive option I found for getting TEFL certified.  Also, they guarantee job placement, which is a fabulous feature when you want security that you are going to have a job waiting for you in your destination country!

There are plenty of choices when it comes to TEFL courses, including in-person ones in your home country (check out course catalogues at your local colleges), online ones, and in-person ones in your destination country (for example, Thailand, Spain, Argentina, South Korea, etc.).  I suggest doing some research to find the option that is best for you, if you are interested in pursuing this path as well!

Timeline

Here is my timeline, for those who are curious:

May 23: enrolled in 120 hour TEFL course; e-mailed a request to postpone the course start date to July 2, as there is a 90 day window to complete the course and I was not going to graduate until mid-June.

June 17: graduated undergraduate university with a B.A. in Psychology

July 2: began online myTEFL course

July 31: finished online TEFL course (I chose to do course for multiple hours every day, in the morning, and finished faster than I anticipated!  It's so nice because you can completely pace yourself and choose the times of day and week that you want to do your class.  There are no teachers or classmates; it is an entirely online experience, but you can chat with tutors if you wish.  There are modules and tests, but you never have to write/submit lesson plans.  I enjoyed the course and found it very useful to get me acquainted with teaching ESL.)

August 1: received 120 hour TEFL certificate and official letter of recommendation via e-mail

August 5: applied through myTEFL to be placed for a teaching job in Thailand (I specified that this was my desired destination country; I did not get placed in Thailand randomly.)

August 8: myTEFL connected me with a consultant in the company I now work for in Thailand

August 11: set up Skype interview

August 14: Skype interview with consultant, hired the same day!

August 29: received and accepted school placement

October 21: moved to Thailand

October 24-26: company orientation course in Bangkok

October 29: moved to my city

November 1: began teaching

All-in-all, it was about...
1 month to complete the TEFL course.
1 month between completing the TEFL course and getting a job placement.
1.5 months between getting a job placement and moving to Thailand.
3.5 months between starting the TEFL course and moving to Thailand.
5 months between my decision to get TEFL certified/move to Thailand and my actual move abroad.

The Thai School System

A bit of information on the Thai school system may be helpful, if you are curious about my experience or looking to teach in Thailand yourself.

There are two terms in one year in Thai schools: one from May to September, the other from November to February.  I started in term 2, which ran from November 1 to February 28.  This was followed by a 2.5 month summer break (summer in Thailand is March-May).  The term I am currently teaching began May 15 and will finish on September 13.

I teach elementary level, first to sixth grade, ages 6 to 12.  In Thailand, this is called prathom.  There are two other pre-university school levels: anuban (pre-school and kindergarten, ages 2 to 5) and mattayom (middle/high school, ages 13 to 18).  Native English speaker teachers are wanted in all types of schools, though my company primarily places teachers in middle/high schools.

My program, which is pretty much the "norm" for farang (foreign) English teachers in Thailand, is structured as such: I teach the entirety of the prathom school, which has 700 students.  They are broken into 18 classes, each of which I teach once per week for 1 hour.  The emphasis of what I teach is speaking and listening.  Different programs, such as English or International Programs, may have teachers meet their students many times per week and usually have a variety of subjects taught in English.  My school just has one foreign English teacher (that's me!) and does not have any special English programs - these typically come into play around mattayom age, in middle/high school.

I was connected with a placement company in Thailand through my TEFL course, but this is not the only way to get a job abroad.  You can search for jobs yourself, either in person or online (such as on ajarn.com, for teaching jobs in Thailand).  A benefit of finding a job independently is the increased earning power; companies typically take a substantial portion of what the school is paying for the teacher, meaning that I am earning less than I would be if I had this same job but not through any company.  A benefit of working for a company is the assurance of a job before you depart from your home country, as well as the connections to people in your destination country who are looking out for you and can assist you with the process.  Many people opt to start out working for a company and transition to working for schools independently after they are established abroad.

I am very happy with my decision to get a job in Thailand before I left America.  I have for the most part had a fine experience working for my company (though, most of my friends have not, which is why I am not mentioning the name of the company in this post).  I adore my school and my students.  I wouldn't change a thing about the past year, or about my decision to live and teach in Thailand.

If you would like to see more about my experience in the classroom and what my day-to-day life is like as an English teacher in abroad, check out the post here.

Here are a few pictures of me with some of my darling students!

 

 I have loved my journey as an ESL Teacher.  Getting experience teaching while broadening my understanding of the world through learning a new language, culture, and way of life has paved the foundation for everything I will do following this adventure.

If you are thinking about trying out teaching abroad, please don't hesitate to pursue it!  It was one of the best decisions I have ever made, and it could be one of the best decisions you ever make, too.

If you just read this to learn more about why and how I became an English teacher in Thailand, thank you for making it this far in the post!  I have found incredible happiness here, and I am so grateful for all of the support, from near and afar.

Feel free to reach out to me or comment on this post if you have any questions about anything I mentioned (or didn't mention) regarding this journey.

Until next time...

✎